Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private lender, was hit with a Rs 1.9 crores (US$229,000) penalty from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier in September for regulatory non-compliance. But that didn’t come as a surprise to the employees of the 31-year-old bank. The irregularities at Axis Bank involved employees opening savings accounts for ineligible customers—some without PAN cards and others failing to meet minimum balance requirements, according to a senior Axis Bank executive. On top of that, instead of assigning each customer a unique identification code, some received multiple codes. All of this inflated the sales figures of the bank known for its mid-market legacy and helped employees meet their tough targets. “Very steep sales targets usually lead to such acts. It’s not possible for every employee to meet such demanding targets through legitimate means,” explained a former Axis Bank employee—a sentiment shared by three other employees from the bank who spoke with The Ken.
But that sentiment, lingering until last year at Axis Bank, is changing now—all thanks to the organisational revamp brought in by Amitabh Chaudhry, reappointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the third time in April. Over the past five years, the bank built a reputation for being pushy with customers and employees. Chaudhry, who adopted an aggressive approach from the get-go when he took over in January 2019—during a time when Axis Bank’s financial performance was on shaky ground—believed it was needed to turn the business around. “Customer acquisition targets were 10–15 savings and current account openings a day,” said a former Axis Bank employee. This approach yielded results. Consolidated profits, excluding exceptional items, in FY19 were Rs 5,039 crores. In FY24, the figure rose by more than 5X. Share prices have also nearly doubled since Chaudhry’s joining.
